Corporate employees typically use several devices to complete their tasks for their jobs. These devices can include a desktop personal computer, a laptop computer, a cell phone, a desktop telephone, personal digital assistant, and other electronic devices. During the course of any day, the corporate employee may use each device in concert or singly to complete tasks. Many of these devices have systems that will electronically lock or unlock the device depending upon the current state of usage for that device. Locking involves the execution of a user interface or other application that requires a user to restart the device, repower the device, or reenter credentials to use the device. For example, a desktop computer may execute a screen saver that requires a password to disable the screen saver if there is no activity with the desktop computer over several minutes. Other devices may have similar types of programs that ensure the safety and security of the devices. Unfortunately, these types of lock and unlock applications can create distractions and problems for corporate users.
When a corporate user is employing only a single device, the other devices associated with that user may all lock. For example, during a long conference call, the desktop computer may not be used during the call. After several minutes, the desktop computer may lock preventing instant access by the user without the user entering in authentication information into the computer. Thus, if there is a sudden need for information stored on the desktop computer during the conference call, the user will need to enter authentication information into the computer, which slows the user's access to the information. As such, there is a need to coordinate the activities of a user's several devices, such that no one device may lock or unlock without knowledge of the user's usage of other devices within a group of the user's devices.